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Safe haven currencies: a portfolio perspective

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  • Cenedese, Gino

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

Currency portfolios exhibit asymmetric correlations: during periods of bear, volatile world equity markets, currency portfolios provide different hedging benefits than in bull markets. I show how these time-varying hedging benefits depend on currency characteristics. This paper also illustrates how the presence of regime shifts in financial markets affects optimal portfolio choice across currency portfolios: during bear markets, investors are better off by unwinding carry trade positions, and by following currency momentum. Also, diversification benefits increase by holding undervalued currencies and currencies of countries with strong current accounts and international investment positions.

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  • Cenedese, Gino, 2015. "Safe haven currencies: a portfolio perspective," Bank of England working papers 533, Bank of England.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:0533
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kang-Soek Lee, 2017. "Safe-haven currency: An empirical identification," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 924-947, September.
    2. Atanasov, Victoria & Nitschka, Thomas, 2014. "Currency excess returns and global downside market risk," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 268-285.
    3. Thomas A. Maurer & Thuy-Duong Tô & Ngoc-Khanh Tran, 2019. "Pricing Risks Across Currency Denominations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(11), pages 5308-5336, November.
    4. Victoria Dobrynskaya, 2015. "Currency Exposure to Downside Risk: Which Fundamentals Matter?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 345-360, May.
    5. Fernando Eguren-Martin & Andrej Sokol, 2022. "Attention to the Tail(s): Global Financial Conditions and Exchange Rate Risks," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(3), pages 487-519, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign exchange; safe haven currencies; portfolio choice; uncovered interest rate parity; carry trade; purchasing power parity; Markov-switching.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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